New spacecraft propulsion method

I still think Project Orion is our only hope to get off Earth in any
meaningful way, but this is interesting.

from photonics.com - 9/7/2007
http://www.photonics.com//content/ne...r/7/88894.aspx
Thruster May Shorten Mars Trip


TUSTIN, Calif., Sept. 7, 2007 -- An amplified photon thruster that
could potentially shorten the trip to Mars from six months to a week
has reportedly attracted the attention of aerospace agencies and
contractors.

Young Bae, founder of the Bae Institute in Tustin, Calif., first
demonstrated his photonic laser thruster (PLT), which he built with
off-the-shelf components, in December.
bae2.gifYoung Bae's photonic laser thruster (Photo courtesy Bae
Institute) The demonstration produced a photon thrust of 35 µN and is
scalable to achieve much greater thrust for future space missions, the
institute said. Applications include highly precise satellite
formation flying configurations for building large synthetic apertures
in space for earth or space observation, precision contaminant-free
spacecraft docking operations, and propelling spacecraft to
unprecedented speeds -- faster than 100 km/sec.

"This is the tip of the iceberg," Bae said in a statement from the
institute. "PLT has immense potential for the aerospace industry. For
example, PLT-powered spacecraft could transit the 100 million km to
Mars in less than a week."

Bae founded the institute to develop space technologies and has
pursued concepts such as photon, antimatter and fusion propulsion for
more than 20 years at SRI International, Brookhaven National Lab and
the Air Force Research Lab. He has a PhD in atomic and nuclear physics
from UC Berkeley.

Several aerospace organizations have expressed interest in
collaborating with the institute to further develop and integrate PLT
into civilian, military and commercial space systems, Bae said, and he
has recently been invited to present his work by NASA, JPL, DARPA and
the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).

Franklin Mead, a senior aerospace engineer at AFRL, said in a Bae
Institute statement that the PLT demonstration and measurement of
photon thrust is "pretty incredible. I don't think anyone has done
this before. It has generated a lot of interest."
youngbae.gifYoung Bae, founder of the Bae Institute (Photo courtesy
Bae Institute) The institute said Bae's paper, "Photonic Laser
Propulsion: Proof-of-Concept Demonstration," was recently accepted for
publication this year in the American Institute of Aeronautics and
Astronautics' Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets. It documents how he
overcame the inherent inefficiencies of traditional photon thrusters
in generating thrust by amplification with the use of an innovative
optical cavity concept.

"For decades, rocket scientists have tried to overcome the
inefficiency of photon thrusters by amplification based on optical
cavities separated from laser sources, but failed," the institute
said. "In contrast, Bae's PLT (patent pending) places the laser medium
within a resonant optical cavity between two platforms to produce a
very stable and reliable thrust that is unaffected by mirror movement
and vibration -- ideal for spacecraft control or propulsion."

Bae will present at the AIAA SPACE 2007 Conference & Exposition, to be
held Sept. 18-19 in Long Beach, at four sessions: Space Transportation
Systems, Promising Space Concepts from the NASA Institute of Advanced
Concepts (NIAC), Space Systems for the Next 50 Years, and Advanced
Vehicle Systems.

The PLT research was partially funded by NIAC (NASA Institute of
Advanced Concepts) as part of a spacecraft formation flight concept
grant.

For more information, visit: www.baeinstitute.com

from photonics.com - 9/7/2007
http://www.photonics.com/content/new...r/7/88894.aspx